Cupertino

The city of Cupertino, originally a small rural village, is located west of San Jose, CA, on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley, extending into the Santa Cruz Mountains. Cupertino has a population of about 58,000, with a higher than normal standard of living, it has been listed in Forbes magazine as one of the most educated small towns in the United States.Like most other cities in the Santa Clara Valley, Cupertino was primarily an agricultural town. It was covered with orchards mostly growing prunes, plums, apricots, and cherries. At the end of the 19th century, it also had a winery growing on the ridge overlooking the valley.

As with other cities in the Santa Clara Valley, Cupertino's population and demographics dramatically changed after World War II. Cupertino became a mostly residential suburban housing community. To accommodate the growing population, the VALLCO Business and Industrial Park was developed in the early 1960's. Part of the development was the Vallco Fashion Park, at the time one of the largest shopping malls in the Santa Clara Valley. De Anza College also opened in the 1967, on property originally used as a winery (Beaulieu Winery). De Anza College has a student population of about 22,000.

Many technology companies were founded in Cupertino, and still maintain their headquarters there, Apple Computer and Trend Micro are a couple of names. Other technology companies also set up offices in Cupertino, and include IBM, Olivetti, and Oracle. Most of these businesses used the location for design and manufacturing purposes and have over 50,000 employees combined. One of the hold over businesses of Cupertino's early era is an aggregate rock quarry and cement plant, nestled in the foothills west of Cupertino. The cement plant was originally founded by Henry J. Kaiser as the Kaiser Permanente Cement Plant. This Cupertino plant supplied most of the cement used in the creation of the Shasta Dam in Northern California.